Drinking fountain



May 28, 1940. s. L. AUB ET AL 2,202,807,

DRINKING FOUNTAIN Filed Feb. 6, 1939 U M; *Mum Patented May 28,

UNITED lSTATES PATENT OFFICE DEIN KIN G FOUNTAIN Application February 6,

3 Claims.

This invention relates to the general art of drinking fountains commonly found in factories and elsewhere.

Excessive perspiration takes -from the system .s an appreciable quantity of salt which should be replaced. With this in mind, there is now being introduced in factories and other such places, the practice of providing salt tablets to be taken by the Workmen with the water from the drink- .lo ing fountain whenever desired. This, however, involves the preliminary act of taking the salt tablet, and this additional effort has proved discouraging, with the result that the purpose of the salt tablets has been largely defeated.

l Therefore, the general object of the present invention is to provide a. drinking fountain with means whereby salt may be supplied and taken at the same time and by means of the same single manipulation by the user, thereby avoidgp ing the necessity of separate acts or operations, and whereby there may be obtained either salt water or plain water according to the desire of the user or medical advices, all with the same unitary device.

The more specic object of our invention is to provide separate valves for the water and salt solutions, respectively, there being provided a means of co-ordination between the two valves so as to permit either of the operations specie'd, 30 this being accomplished by a single means manipulatable by the user.

Other objects will appear from the following description and claims when considered together with the accompanying drawing.

Fig. l is an elevation of the general assembly embodying our present form of invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the control mechanism;

Fig. 3 is a view taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is an end View of the operating lever or handle.

It is to be understood that the present form of disclosure is merely for purposes of illustration l5 and that there may be devised various modifi- Without departing from the spirit of our invention as herein set forth and claimed.

The form of drinking fountain herein illustrated is pipe 3 which discharges into the drain 4 and the outlet pipe 5.

Our improved valve control means is connected to the Water supply pipe 6, the ow of water i being controlled by the Valve l which is adapted 1939, Serial No. 254,864

to open and close the passage 8 leading to the tube 9. The passage 8. has communication through the annular groove I I in the valve stem guide so as to be in constant registry with the passage 8 for all positions of the valve I0 and 5 control the flow of salt solution from the container I2 through the pipe I3 and thence through the passages I4 and IE and out through the upright tube I6 which is 10 ccncentrically positioned within the water tube 9.

As will be noted, the valves l and II! and their valve stems la and Ia are arranged for movement along substantially parallel paths. These valves are provided with coil springs 'lb and I0b, 15 respectively, which engage the valves at one end and suitable fixed abutments at the other ends, these springs tending normally to force the same towards closed position. The rotatable handle I"i has the valve stem Illa extending there- 20 through, with a nut Ic on the end of the valve stem for operative engagement by the handle I'l as it is turned. 'Ihe inner side of the handle I'l has a multiple cam Ila, concentric with the valve stem, for co-operation with a companion multiple cam I8 in the thimble I 9 which is nonrotatably mounted upon the end of the cylinder wall of valve 1. In this particular illustration, the thimble I9 has a cut-away portion for engagement with opposite sides of the neck portion between the two valve casings. 'Ihus the cam I8 is virtually fixed .with respect to the valve casing, and any turning of the cam I 'la with the handle I1 will cause an axial movement of the valve stem la towards the right, as viewed in nature of the cam, have provided the idle rollers 20 between the two 40 companion multiple cams so as to ease the operation.

As clearly seen in Fig. 4, the handle Il has a segmental ear I'la which is adapted to engage the nut IIIc on the valve stem "Ia when the handle I1 is turned in one direction. Such engagement of the nut IUc will cause the valve IIl i: (Si

' flow o opposite direction, there will be no engagement of the nut IUC by the ear ila, and the valve l alone will be opened while the valve il remains closed. In this case, only plain water will be supplied to the drinking fountain.

In the present illustration, the container l2 occupies position above the elevation of the discharge nozzle 2 and the small tube i6 is surrounded by the flow or" water up through the tube 9 so as to have the salt solution drawn up by the force of the water and discharged therewith at the nozzle 2.

Thus, upon rotation of the handle Il' in one direction, (forwardly according to Fig. 2 or the present illustration) there will be effected a combined low of water and salt solution; and upon rotation of the handle il in the opposite direction, there will be obtained a low o plain water. With this device, it becomes a matter of extreme simplicity to obtain either plain water or salt water, In fact, the desired operation can be performed even with the eyes closed as there are no special or precise degrees of movement re quired in order to obtain the desired result, it being merely necessary to turn the handle in one direction or the other and without regard to the extent of movement, so fas as obtaining the mixture or plain water is concerned.

The construction is so arranged that the handie I1 is located just below the basin l so as to be most conveniently operated by the hand of the user. This is made possible by the iact that there is no need for the user to observe the handle Il during its manipulation, as above explained, especially after he once acquaints himselrn with the particular direction corresponding to plain water or salt water.

What we claim is:

l. In a device of the class described, a liquid supply line, a reservoir oi solution to be mixed with the liquid, a pipe connection constituting the only means oi communication from said reservoir to said liquid supply line, separate valves for separately and exclusively controlling the the liquid and solution, respectively, to a discharge nozzle, means for setting the liquid valve in either o two open positions, operative means of connection actuated by the setting ci said liquid valve in only one of its open positions for simultaneously opening said solution valve also, whereby manipulation oi said valve-setting means to one open position will open only the liquid valve and thereby effect a now of plain liquid, and the manipulation of the valve-setting means to its other open position will open both valves and thereby effect a mixture of said liquid and said solution.

2. In a device of the class described, a liquid supply line, a reservoir of solution to be mixed with the liquid, a pipe connection constituting the only means of communication from said reservoir to said liquid supply line, separate valves for separately and exclusively controlling the ilow of the liquid and solution, respectively, to a discharge nozzle, means operatable in either of two opposite directions for setting the liquid valve in open position, operative means of connection actuated by the manipulation of said operatable means in only one direction for simultaneously opening said solution valve also, whereby manipulation of said operatable means in one direction will open only the liquid valve and thereby ellect a now of plain liquid, and the manipulation of said operatable means in the opposite direction will open both valves and thereby eect a mixture of said liquid and said solution.

3. In a device oi the class described, a liquid supply line, a reservoir oi solution to be mixed with the liquid, a pipe connection constituting the only means of communication from said resf ervoir to said liquid supply line, separate valves for separately and exclusively controlling the flow of the liquid and solution, respectively, to a discharge nozzle, said valves being arranged 'in substantially parallel relation, said liquid valve having a handle rotatable in either direction ior opening the same, and the solution valve being reciprccatable for opening and closing the same. cam means o operative connection rendered effective by the turning of said handle in only one direction for simultaneously opening said solution valve also, whereby rotation of the said handle in one direction will open only the liquid valve and thereby effect a flow of plain liquid, and

the rotation of the handle in the opposite direcl i' tion will open both valves and thereby eiect a flow of a mixture of said liquid and said solution for discharge at the nozzle.

SAMUEL L. AUB. WILLIAM B. LONG. 

